In the office of the gaming center.
The Noble Lady carefully flipped through the ledger for the first half of the year, checking for any anomalies. No matter how wealthy one is, living a life requires careful calculation; otherwise, spending extravagantly could ruin even the largest family fortune in no time.
The Noble Lady was so engrossed that she lost track of time. She only snapped back to reality when her phone rang.
She glanced at the caller ID on her phone... Xiaoyu.
It was a call from the head maid. The Noble Lady had her contact saved as Xiaoyu.
Whether by coincidence or fate, the head maid shared the same surname as the Noble Lady—Xia. The head maid's full name was... Xia Yu.
It happened to be raining the day she met the head maid in Dagang City, a fitting scene that perfectly matched her name—Xia Yu, which sounds exactly like the word for raining.
They weren't just cold titles and positions to her. The Noble Lady could remember almost everyone's name. She remembered every person she had ever sponsored, as long as they still remained with the Xia family.
Perhaps it was the legendary principle that extremes meet. The Noble Lady was so brilliant that Xia Tongxin ended up being rather clumsy and slow, and even possessed a decidedly childlike figure. In a way, this could be considered the universal balance.
"What is it, Xiaoyu?" the Noble Lady asked with a smile, her voice lazy and carrying a faint, subtle charm.
"Madam, the Young Miss is injured..." The head maid's stuttering, somewhat timid voice came through the phone.
"What!"
The Noble Lady, who had been lounging lazily on the sofa, instantly sprang to her feet. In her high heels, she hurried out of the office, still talking on the phone as she rushed toward the nearest hospital.
A short while later.
Several black commercial vans pulled up and parked at the hospital entrance. Click. The back doors opened.
Clack, clack, clack!
The Noble Lady hurried into the hospital in her high heels, trailed by a massive entourage of bodyguards and maids. The procession was incredibly spectacular, bizarrely resembling a scene from one of those mindless short dramas that Mrs. Du loved so much. Hehe, so entertaining!!!
In the hospital's VIP ward.
Xia Tongxin was crying pitifully. There was a large, red bump on her head. Her little nose had suffered the same fate, now red like a clown's nose. Both spots were wrapped in white gauze, giving her an inexplicably comical appearance.
"Waaah, it hurts, waaah..." Xia Tongxin pouted her little mouth as large teardrops pattered down.
"It's alright, Miss, it will get better. The doctor said you'll be fine in a few days." The head maid gently squeezed her Young Miss's soft little hands, comforting her softly.
Even now, the head maid hadn't quite recovered her wits and was somewhat questioning life itself. She didn't quite understand... why their Young Miss had suddenly decided to perform a flying trapeze act out of nowhere.
In all likelihood, she had watched some outrageous guy's stunts, which misled the Young Miss into thinking she could do it too. She wanted to give it a try, and the result... trying led to dying.
Silently, the head maid pinned the blame on Ye Cheng. Even though... she knew full well that this incident really had nothing to do with him, she did it anyway.
The incompetent head maid.
The head maid's current behavior was exactly like those parents who demanded cartoons be banned and games be prohibited, believing that video games had ruined their children.
Is it possible that gaming is already the cheapest and most efficient form of entertainment, yet in the mouths of certain parents, it becomes the main culprit that ruins children?
Is it possible that you old fogeys are just too useless, leaving your children with no choice but to rely on such a cheap form of entertainment? If you actually had the means, you could just toss them tens of thousands of bucks and tell them to go out and play, travel, or go wherever they want. Do you think they'd still be playing on their phones then?
Damn it, so you get to say whatever suits your narrative, right?
The head maid blaming Ye Cheng now was actually no different from those extreme old fogeys. Do you think they don't know the truth?
Do you think the head maid doesn't know whether it's truly Ye Cheng's fault or not?
No, the head maid knows, and those old fogeys know too. They just need a scapegoat to shift the blame onto.
The old fogeys shift the blame to cover up their own incompetence and failures. The problem can be anything in the outside world, but it absolutely cannot be themselves...
Talk about incompetence...!!!
The head maid wasn't actually shirking responsibility. Regardless of the reason, as long as the Young Miss had an accident while under her watch, it was her dereliction of duty as the head maid, plain and simple.
As for her shifting the blame, she was only doing it in her head, silently recording the incident in her little book of grudges to exact revenge when the right time came... Still petty as ever.
Talk about being stubborn...!!!
Clack, clack, clack. The rapid sound of high heels echoed in the hallway. The head maid's heart skipped a beat, and a second later, the ward door was pushed open.
The Noble Lady looked at Xia Tongxin, who was sitting there pitifully with a runny nose and a large bump on her head. Her eyes instantly turned red.
"Waaah, my poor Tongtong, waaah..."
"Waaah, Mommy, waaah..." The moment Xia Tongxin saw the Noble Lady, she completely lost her composure. She had almost finished crying with the head maid, but now the tears came pouring out again.
Head maid: "..."
Mother and daughter hugged each other, sobbing and whimpering. The bodyguards and maids outside were very self-aware and did not follow them in. Instead, they waited in the hallway and considerately closed the half-open door to prevent the sound from echoing outside.
It wasn't long before the crying of the mother and daughter in the ward ceased.
"Tongtong, let's stop studying and go home with Mommy!" The Noble Lady's eyes were red as she looked at her daughter with deep heartache. She hadn't seen her for just half a day, and now there was such a huge bump on her head. She wasn't exactly the smartest to begin with... Sigh.
Subconsciously, the aggrieved Xia Tongxin was about to nod and follow her mommy home. Sure enough, the outside world was just a bit too dangerous; it was safer to stay at home.
Right at the moment she was about to nod, Xia Tongxin paused. Two figures surfaced in her mind... one was Grandpa Niu, and the other was the super giant demon who had bumped into her and run away.
In a flash, the grievance in Xia Tongxin's eyes vanished, replaced by anger—the flames of vengeance!
Grandpa Niu's matter could be put on hold for now, but this grudge... must be avenged immediately!!!
The Noble Lady continued to console her sweet and naive daughter while subtly coaxing her to come home.
She could tell that with their Tongtong's IQ, she would just be treated as a backup plan by others, deceived until she didn't know which way was up. When that happened... it would be better to cut their losses early. If she really liked someone that much, she would figure out a way for her later.
She could offer a price that Ye Cheng wouldn't be able to refuse...
Unfortunately, the Noble Lady's "evil plan" was aborted before it could even be put into action. Instead, Xia Tongxin's resolute and indignant voice rang in her ears.
"No! I'm not going back! I want to study!!!"
These words left both the head maid and the Noble Lady completely dumbfounded. Was this really the same little pink-haired first-grader who had cried for an entire day because she couldn't do basic addition and subtraction under ten?
She actually wanted to study?
The Noble Lady was the first to recover. She asked tentatively, "How about this, Tongtong? Mommy will hire your school teachers to come here, and you can take your classes at home. How does that sound?"
"Shut up, you evil cow! You have no right to interrupt what this young lady has decided!" Xia Tongxin once again adopted an incredibly arrogant attitude in front of the Noble Lady. It felt like if the Noble Lady said even one more word, she would be hit with one of Xia Tongxin's signature "Shine!" punches.
The Noble Lady: "..."
Feeling helpless, the Noble Lady realized that tricking her was out of the question. She could only grab a tissue and wipe the snot and tears from her pink-haired daughter's face.
Once Xia Tongxin's emotions had stabilized, the Noble Lady called the head maid outside. The two of them walked to the end of the hospital corridor.
"What exactly happened? Wasn't Tongtong perfectly fine earlier?" The Noble Lady's expression was rather grim.
Ultimately, the head maid took all the blame upon herself. However, she still gave a brief account of the incident from start to finish. It was a very fair and objective retelling, without shifting any blame onto Ye Cheng... though she did silently add Ye Cheng's name to her little black book of revenge.
Just you wait, you jerk!
"I apologize, Madam. This was my fault, and I will accept whatever punishment you deem fit." The head maid's voice was filled with remorse as she bowed to the Noble Lady.
The Noble Lady furrowed her brows. She naturally knew the head maid's character well; anything she said would be entirely objective, completely devoid of any bias or favoritism.
If things had truly played out just as the head maid described, then this whole incident was entirely their Tongtong's fault.
First, she bullied the young man's companion, which led to his retaliation. In the end, he merely rammed her with a bumper car before leaving. There was nothing wrong with how he handled it; in fact, it even made him seem quite magnanimous...
However, there was one detail that left the Noble Lady completely baffled.
"How did you say he left? He flew away?" The Noble Lady raised an elegant eyebrow. If those words had come from anyone other than the head maid, she would have lost her temper immediately. It sounded like a blatant joke at her expense!
Who in the real world could actually fly... Wait, there actually was someone.
Subconsciously, the figure of an "old acquaintance" surfaced in the Noble Lady's mind. Along with the image of him leaping across roofs and vaulting over walls came the memory of his arrogant voice...
"Hahaha! How about that, Hehe? Aren't I awesome? Hurry up and praise me!"
The Noble Lady: "..."
The Noble Lady fell silent. How did the saying go again? Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it's impossible. That "old acquaintance" had already taught her that lesson firsthand.
Wordlessly, the Noble Lady pulled up the security footage from the arcade, while the head maid stood by her side to identify him.
Click!
The head maid pressed the pause button, and the video cleanly froze on the exact moment Ye Cheng catapulted himself into the air. A hint of doubt flickered in the Noble Lady's eyes. This person... why did he look so familiar?
"Zoom in," the Noble Lady ordered.
"Right away, Madam!" The head maid enlarged the image bit by bit. Finally, Ye Cheng's face, handsome enough to rival a human incubus, appeared dead center on the monitor. The Noble Lady's eyes widened in sheer disbelief, as if she had just seen a ghost.
"Why is it him?!"
The head maid was taken aback... Did her Madam actually know this bizarre guy?
After rewatching the clip several times, the look in the Noble Lady's eyes grew increasingly incredulous as she muttered something under her breath...
"To think there could actually be such a coincidence in this world!" the Noble Lady sighed inexplicably. She then turned to look at the head maid, whose eyes were filled with confusion.
"Xiaoyu, do you know who he is?"
The head maid was slightly bewildered and replied tentatively, "A... crazed bullfrog?"
The Noble Lady: "..."
What did this have to do with a crazed bullfrog?
The head maid's answer left the Noble Lady stunned as well. She quickly snapped back to her senses, steered the conversation back on track, and shook her head.
"He is the Grandpa Bull that Tongtong has been looking for." The Noble Lady spoke with an inexplicable calmness, yet her gaze was unusually profound.
The head maid: "???"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
Explosive Plot Song Gua crossed over into another world, bringing along a whole crew of his doppelgangers—all of them mischief-makers. This was a world where everyone could choose a class. Song Gua became a "Bondweaver," capable of borrowing power, while his doppelgangers took on a wide variety of classes, covering just about everything. The number of doppelgangers grew day by day, each one a talented individual with a charming way of speaking. Under Song Gua's brilliant leadership, they would "greet" each other daily and engage in friendly "sparring," pulling off one major scheme after another on Earth. Sometimes they were bandits—stealing bosses, plundering mines, snatching resources. Sometimes they were saviors—descending like divine warriors to face world bosses threatening to massacre cities. Sometimes they even went undercover, infiltrating various major factions to stir up trouble from within, keeping their enemies constantly on edge. To prevent their doppelganger abilities from being exposed, Song Gua made them wear masks with mahjong tile patterns and don Taoist robes in various colors. "Remember, in front of outsiders, call me 'The Dice.'" "Got it! Boss!" "Not 'Boss'—it's 'The Dice.' Think about the vibe, pay attention to the vibe." "Yes! Boss!" "For crying out loud..." From then on, whenever they appeared, they would have their own theme song playing: ~Hey~ paying respects at the mountain stronghold at night~ whose arm is draped over whose shoulder~ gather your courage and follow along...
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
